Our Girl
by Miranda Panda-chan
Summary: Because she wasn't just any girl that had gotten hurt, she was their girl. Their life. Their kunoichi. Their medic-nin. And they'd be damned if she got hurt because of their lack of responsibility. RxR


**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor do I claim to.**

**A/N: Another one-shot, I was disappointed at my lack of reviews for the latest one-shot and the third chapter of LBFO. It's kinda depressing. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD, REVIEW!**

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Our Girl

**By Mitsurufangirl009**

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"She's got a high fever," Kakashi said solemnly, he looked at the two boys, now men, sitting around the fire. "It'll be three more days till we reach Konoha if we keep up this pace; we need to speed up," he explained bluntly, his two male students, though not anymore, just stared into the flames that flailed in the wind.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto started off, his black-haired friend poking the fire with slightly violence to keep the flames rising. Kakashi sighed at the honorific.. he hadn't been their sensei for at least five years, "will she be okay till then? Tsunade-baa-chan can fix her, but will she mak--."

"She'll be alright, dobe. She wouldn't dive up like that, so stop worrying," Sasuke curtly told him, his voice tight as if proving it to himself, too.

"Don't be a hypocrite, Sasuke-teme! You're worried about her, too!" the kyuubi vessel protested. The girl in the sleeping bag cringed, her sea foam eyes were closed, and her pink hair was damp with sweat as she remained in her nightmarish world.

It amazed him, Kakashi, how the medic-nin could cause three of the strongest shinobi in Fire Country to be so burdened with worry, she could bring them all to their knees in an instant, and make them fight and kill in cold blood if she was injured. The latter had occurred only a couple of days ago. Less than forty-eight hours to be exact. As assassination mission, B-rank, assigned to Uchiha Sasuke, ANBU black opp, Uzumaki Naruto, ANBU captain, Hatake Kakashi, jonin and ex-ANBU, and Haruno Sakura, medic-nin, ANBU level.

Mission: assassinate the leader of an organization try to take over imports coming in to Fire Country. He was in his mid-twenties, but stronger than some of the very best ninja in the Mist, since the Zabuza incident, Konohagakure and the Village in the Mist had become allied. He'd targeted Team 7's only weak point, the one female member that had kept them sane and tied together, the pink-haired medic-nin: Haruno Sakura.

"_Keep on your toes. We don't know the security details of the inner hallways. He could have traps set up…" _

"_Hurry up, Sakura," the Uchiha said coldly, watching the medic over his shoulder eyes bleeding red with sharingan. She nodded, determined. She shivered slightly when he turned back around, despite him being who he was: the sharingan still scared her, the vivid imagery of the experiences she'd had battling the deceased Uchiha Itachi gave her nightmares still. _

"_Stop chattering, the both of you. We get caught and we could have the whole building down on us in seconds." Kakashi whispered harshly. Sasuke merely grunted while Sakura glared at the floor, hands in tight fists. How dare he?! The both of you?! She hadn't said a word since they'd set off from Konoha except to tell them that she had to go to the bathroom once when they'd set up camp on the outskirts of a forest. _

_The man they were after was named Ijiri Kosuke, one of the main leaders of the organization that called themselves The Three Crowns. The two other leaders had been taken care of, one by Gai's team, and the other by Team 10. They'd been really messed up upon there return to Konoha, too. Evidently these men were expert fighters. Sakura had seen the injuries they'd attained, even the Hyuuga had admitted they were strong. _

_Sakura cringed inwardly, she could only hope that their mission would turn out better, maybe this one wasn't as knowledgeable in fighting as the other two. _

_She vaguely noticed that she was beginning to fall behind, just a little—not much. That was alright. Sasuke and her had had a rough start this morning. A lot of yelling and arguing had been going on all the way here. Their fights had even included Naruto, who sometimes chose sides with her, while other times chose sides with Sasuke. It was infuriating to say the least. Kakashi had said that he was Switzerland, and would remain neutral in all further arguments between his students. She rubbed her arms furiously, was it getting colder or was it just her? She could almost swear she could see her breath…_

_FWOOM! _

_The space that had been between her and her teammates was now a solid, thick, metallic rock-ish wall. She could hear the yells of her teammates through the wall vaguely. She beat on the wall, trying to punch through it, but only managing to put a few rather large dents in it. _

"_SAKURA!" that was Sasuke's voice, she heard it clearly. He must be right next to the wall. _

"_SAS-!" she was cut off, she looked around, panicked. Yellowish gas was filling up the space she now occupied, another wall, built the same as the first, blocked her escape. She coughed, trying to hold her breath, eyes watering. _

"_SAKURA-CHAN! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" Naruto's voice rang out, slightly muffled, but still clear. She could hear the bangs, the punches and kicks being thrown at the wall. They'd never break through. _

"_SASUKE! NARUTO!" She screamed, giving up on holding her breath, not even she had that amount of endurance in that specific field. She coughed again. Tears were flowing freely. She admitted, she was afraid. She was trapped, and she didn't have enough sense to tell if this was knock-out gas, or poisonous. Black was beginning to weave into her vision. She gave one last punch to the wall, but the dent only increased. Her punch wasn't effective. She dropped to her knees and let the sobs come up as she slowly lost consciousness, a light-headed sickening feeling overwhelming her before the room began moving as she floated, fell, backwards. Darkness consumed her world…_

It hadn't been easy, not being able to do anything. All that had been left when the door finally lifted was a yellowish haze and a kunai with a small pink ribbon attached to it. Ino had given her those for her last birthday. Kakashi could only sigh as he twirled the piece of evidence that had been left for them on his finger as he watched the sleeping girl cringe and shake from the pain and nightmares that consumed her now.

They had fought like animals, carnivorous wild beasts on the hunt for their kill. It wasn't an easy fight, they were all injured to some degree. Naruto had the worst injuries, but thanks to the Kyuubi, which for once Kakashi was grateful for the nine-tailed demon, he'd healed quickly enough, after all. But they were careless. Careless because righteous fury had overtaken their normally calm minds. Careless because they hadn't known she was still that close. Careless because they hadn't thought two more steps ahead of him and blocked the attack. Careless because she got hit, and it was there faults because they didn't protect her.

"_You're nothing but humans in costume. You're no better than the rest of us trying to get by in this world. No! You think you're so great? You're not! Just overcompensated humans. Maybe for your lack of brains, hm? It's definitely not determination or stubbornness. You've lost! Can't you see that? You may have beaten my brothers, but I'm the strongest, the best! You can't win!" Kosuke rambled madly. Sasuke growled at the man's arrogance. _

"_God! Someone shut 'im up! He's got a worse superiority complex than the Hyuuga!" Naruto scoffed, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Three other Narutos appeared. _

"_Don't waste your chakra like that, Naruto! Shadow clones won't do much good in this cramped space." Kakashi scolded. Naruto sneered._

"_Oh yea? I'll show you, Kaka-sensei." With that they surrounded him, getting in formation as they slowly proceeded to initiate Naruto's copied attack from Sasuke who had copied it from Lee. "Na-Ru-To!" The man yelled as he was thrown in the air, blood trickling from his mouth, "Uzu-Maki Barrage!" A small crater formed as the man was thrown in to the ground. Dust fluttered up, fanning out. _

"_Nice one, dobe," coughed the Uchiha. _

"_Didn't see you helping, Sasuke-teme." Naruto shot back. The dust was beginning to settle, the debris ceasing to make noise as they wondered if Kosuke was dead. A small sound of laughter was heard from the heart of the crater._

"_You think this is over?! NO! I'll leave my mark! I'll take over all of Fire Country. No one can stop me! It's been my dream since I was a child—I'll make it a reality!"_

"_Get real! You'll either die or come willingly to be tried as a criminal in the village by the Tsunade-baa-chan, bastard!" Naruto yelled through gritted teeth. _

"_Enough Naruto!" Kakashi said, three kunai between his fingers. "Time to end this!" _

"_Ah," the Uchiha jumped back, starting his own set of hand signs, "__Katon__ Goukakyuu __no Jutsu!" Fire shot forth, creating a circle of fire on the outskirts of the crater. Mad laughter still rang in the dusty old room. Kakashi slipped in the circle, kunai ready to kill. _

_Naruto couldn't see the fight through the smoke and flames. Completely unnoticed by him was the pinkette they'd been fighting so hard for still tied to the chair, the flames growing wilder with the old wood as its food. The flames had grown so much that they now began to lick the chair that held her hostage. The smoke was enveloping her, but the knock-out gas was still in affect. She couldn't wake up to try and rid herself of the pollution in her lungs. _

"_All of the strong shinobi are trying to kill me? Have you forgotten—I hold something precious to you in my grasp. Her very life depends on if I want to let her live." All men gasped, Kosuke jumped, rising above flames and smoke, a small senbon in hand. He laughed, hitting the target with perfect aim that came from years of practice. The senbon struck Sakura's neck, imbedding its poisoned tip into her main blood stream. _

"_BASTARD!" Naruto flew at him, Kyuubi's chakra flooding his veins as his posture became crouched and hunched. "I'LL KILL YOU!" He growled, the man was dead with a single swipe of his claws. _

"_Sasuke—get Sakura, NOW!" Kakashi yelled, grabbing the scroll that had he'd obtained from Konoha that held important information regarding later strategies against Otogakure and profile information over the many kekkai genkai and different jutsu of some of the strongest ninja in Konohagakure. _

_The building was beginning to collapse, the main power source already been destroyed had caused part of the building's structure to already be greatly weakened, the fire was spreading, consuming the room quickly. Sasuke grabbed Sakura, carrying her on his back, her arms slung over his shoulders as he gripped her thighs. Naruto ran behind him, the rear was held by Kakashi. _

_Sakura had yet to wake up…_

"She needs medical help immediately…where the hell's a medic when you need one…?" Kakashi sighed as she coughed in her comatose state, the smoke damage to her lungs couldn't be helping her situation.

"In a coma, possibly dying." Sasuke said solemnly, answering Kakashi's question, the sound of guilt weighing his words down, "All because we," not he, for once, the Uchiha was giving credit where was due and not taking _all_ the blame…just most of it, "couldn't protect her from some sick bastard with a well-aimed senbon." He finished, his words ringing with truth. Even Kakashi couldn't deny what he said to be correct.

"We need to hurry, c'mon, Sasuke, it's your turn to carry her…unless you don't want too, of course."

"Hn," that translated in to English would be along the line of "you know I'll carry her, I fought with Naruto over who got to carry her first, and although he won the coin toss that doesn't mean I was happy with the outcome." Sasuke picked her up, placing her on his back just as he had when he'd rescued her from the building, her resting on his shoulder. She was light, almost too light, she needed to eat more, he mentally noted, he was almost afraid he'd break her in half. She was fragile, yet she was stronger than all of them in some ways.

When they'd given up on staying together, she was the knot that kept them all from falling apart. She was the mediator, by violence or words: she'd end fights between them. She'd healed them all with every ounce of chakra she'd had far more than once, and even though she'd inflict most of the damage, she'd forgive them and ask for forgiveness for her violent behavior.

They'd begun their run to Konoha again. Quicker this time, faster paced, all for the girl on his back. He glanced at the other two men, Kakashi looked relatively calm, but Naruto, he could tell, was upset. Upset because he'd failed protecting his teammate, his friend, his sister, someone closer than any family member. Sasuke knew this because he felt the same way, too. Sasuke had failed to protect someone whom he loved, someone precious to him. Haku's words had not fallen on deaf ears. They would always remember his haunting words till the day they entered the grave to meet him.

"Nngh…Sasu….ke?" the figure on his back mumbled, choking. Her voice was raspy, soft, and he knew part of it was the smoke inhalation, while the other had to do with her lack of water. He stopped on a tree branch, twisting his head to see her with his peripheral vision, catching Kakashi's and Naruto's attention.

"Sakura? Are you okay?" he asked, not caring about the obvious anxiety in his voice.

"Nu-uh, I feel cold and tired…" she said, her eyes beginning to lull back in her head. He shook her lightly.

"Don't you dare go back to sleep, Sakura, whatever you do. Keep talking to me," Kakashi and Naruto had figured out by now that their pink-haired kunoichi was semi-awakened.

"Sakura-chan!" You're gonna be okay, right?"

"I dunno, Naruto. How long have I been out?" Sasuke noticed the sarcastic edge to her voice.

"About three days," Kakashi answered. The three shinobi were in a line side-by-side. All of them trying to keep the girl awake until they reached Konoha, going as fast their chakra-infused feet allowed them to go.

The sun was setting, they could see the buildings of the village over the hills, vaguely. Sakura had begun to cry randomly at times because she wanted to go back to sleep.

"Why won't you let me go back to sleep, Kakashi-sensei?" she whined while crying. Every tear that fell was like someone stabbing him in the heart. It hurt him almost as much as she was hurting. He would almost let her go to sleep if it meant she wouldn't cry because of him anymore.

"Sakura, you're sick," small words seemed to suit the situation best considering she was acting somewhat childish, "Very sick. You might not wake up if I let you go to sleep."

Sasuke and Naruto had given her to him when she'd started the waterworks. They couldn't handle it, Naruto almost had let her go back to so sleep and had finally told Sasuke that he couldn't handle it, Sasuke did a little better than the former because of his stubbornness, but she was really persuasive, damn it! Who knew that her crying affected the Uchiha so strongly, and since Kakashi was the responsible adult, he was forced to be blamed for her tears, carry her, and keep her awake at all time by all mean necessary.

Just a little farther, and Sakura would get help from Tsunade. They were all glad that she hadn't gotten violent yet. Though, in her weakened state, they didn't think her violence would be much of a problem. The gates of Konohagakure loomed over them, a sigh escaped their lips as relief began sinking in. She was still awake, less agitated, but more disoriented.

"It's time to let Tsunade-baa-chan do her stuff!" Naruto proclaimed as they entered the village. The Hokage Tower in sight, they began making their way to tell Tsunade of their utter failure at protecting their cherry blossom, but the mission had been a success nonetheless.

It had been nearly ten hours since they'd returned. Tsunade had started working on her apprentice immediately.

"So?" Kakashi-sensei asked. His voice solemn and terrified of the reply when she finally walked out. It was after midnight.

"Well, she's lucky, if you hadn't kept her awake she would've gone in to a, probably permanent, coma. And if you hadn't gotten here as quickly as you did, if you'd taken the whole five days' walk to get here, she would've died. Thankfully though, we aren't dealing with what ifs. She's stable right now. We had to give her some really strong sedatives and other meds to dull the rather intensive pain she's gonna be dealing with when she wakes up.

"The poison was deteriorating muscle tissue, we've been able to reform it, but she's…well, her leg, the ligament in her knee is torn, and she'll probably have a permanent limp," Tsunade said quietly, but still kept a cheerful face, "But it can be worked past, but it will be bothersome—I can teach her how to treat it, it'll have to be a daily thing, but it isn't as bas as it could've been. Think positive—she's alive, after all."

The three men sighed, it would be a lasting reminder of their failure to protect her.

"Can we see her?" Naruto asked tentatively. Tsunade smiled warmly at him and nodded.

"You shouldn't feel guilty, Naruto, or the rest of you. You did your best and with being a shinobi comes risk of serious injury to death. Out on the field, to our enemies, she's nothing but a mere girl playing ninja, playing the enemy ninja."

"But she's not just a mere girl, she's _our _girl," Kakashi said, and although his words were soft and calm, his voice rang with hatred. Tsunade looked at them pointedly, but said nothing after that, simply walked away knowing her apprentice couldn't be in safer hands.

Three hours. That's how long they'd been in the spacious blaring white room. The rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound a part from the breathing of the three men and the girl. She hadn't moved since they'd come in.

"Tsunade's got a point," Sasuke said quietly, no one looked up at his hunched form leaned against the far wall next to the window.

"So does sensei," Naruto shot back, and his eyes dared the Uchiha to contradict him.

"I'm not your sensei anymore," Kakashi sighed, guilt weighed and flooded the room, they were drowning in it.

The girl laid quietly sleeping in her bed, while the three strongest shinobi all stood around her in various places of the room. Naruto sat in a chair, his head laid on his arms which rested on the end of the mattress of her bed. His head resting near her hip. Sasuke was near the bed, but not as close as Naruto. He was on the floor of the hospital room, leaned against the wall beside the window, onyx staring blankly at the unnatural pale color of the pinkette's flesh. Kakashi sat in a chair opposite Sakura. He occasionally stared at her, looking up from the infamous orange book to watch his students all look completely lifeless.

The girl suddenly cringed, the heart monitor picking up speed. A small whimper escaped her dry chapped lips. Emerald eyes fluttered open seconds after the small sound was escaped her. She winced at the dim lights that reached her eyes. Looking around the room weakly. She began to sit up, straining slightly at the amount of pain and effort it took to do so. She wondered if this was how Naruto felt all the time after she'd treated him. Naruto immediately, after figuring out she was in pain because of her actions, helped her sit up.

"Um….hi." she said weakly, she stared at them all as Naruto moved back. Cerulean, onyx, and grey met bottle green eyes, all held the same agonized look that seemed to saturate their very souls.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly, anxiety beginning to form. Was someone dead? Had the mission failed? No one answered, she thought back to the mission...and shivered involuntarily at the cold silence that enveloped her, the darkness that never ended, the sudden flashes of searing hot and icy cold followed by shots of agonizing pain.

"Was it the mission?" Silence. "I'm sorry, I didn't know, and I would've fought them off, and I tried to get out—to make a hole in the wall. But there was no way out. I could hear you calling me from the other side, but all I could do was leave small craters in the metal. Then the smoke, and it was chaotic, everything was spinning, and I didn't know what was happening, and—!" Sakura's rambling were cut off.

"Stop," the silk of voice of the Uchiha rang, pain was even in _his _eyes—and what was even stranger was that he seemed to be in the most of it, "You've done nothing wrong, Sakura. I—" he looked at his teammates, and with that single glance changed his mind, "We," he rephrased, "are the ones that own you an apology. Not that it'll change anything…" he trailed off, not looked at her anymore—the look of pain passing and being overwhelmed with shame and guilt.

"We're sorry, Sakura," Kakashi spoke, she looked at him, confused, "We should've been watching you, protecting you, but we didn't know they knew so much about us…"

"We're sorry, Sakura-chan!" Naruto sobbed, giant alligator tears bubbling over as his lip trembled uncontrollably, "We're terrible friends!"

"What-? Are—are you actually…? You can't really feel guilty?" she gave them an incredulous look.

"On the contrary, we do—immensely so." Kakashi stated, a dry laugh following.

"But I-!"

"Couldn't have known there was a trap or an ambush." Sasuke finished for her.

"We don't deserve you, Sakura-chan!" Naruto blubbered out, latching on to her waist.

"I don't blame you guys," she stammered out.

"You better not blame yourself," and in an instant Sasuke was next to her, right beside her, inches from her face. She could feel his breath on her ear. She could feel the heat slowly beginning to rise to her face.

"Besides, you're not just any girl that got hurt!" Naruto said. Kakashi's words must have made some impression on him, as the quote kept coming up. Sasuke's arm snaked around her waist, and he pulled her closer to him—she squeaked in surprise.

"You're _my _girl," Sasuke whispered huskily. Sakura smiled at the words, softly glowing a lovely shade of red from the severe blush that was spreading from her face to her toes. She looked at him.

"Even if the teme has majority ownership, we still own a third of you!" Naruto said, cheered by this fact. She smiled even more, and Sasuke was leaning in closer…and closer….

Kakashi cleared his throat.

"So you're not just _his_, Sakura. You're _our _girl." And her failure suddenly seemed forgotten as _her _boys smothered her with hugs and love.

She wasn't just any girl,a fter all. She was their girl, and she fell asleep in her hospital bed, holding two hands—the fox boy's hand in her right and the avenger's hand in her left while a protective grey eye watched silently over all of them.

Fin.

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A/N: Another one-shot has been finished. It's actually a lot longer than I lot it would be. It's kinda…cheering? Oh well, whatever. Please review. Please. I know you all hate me cuz I never update, but please review to show that you still like my writing—at least a little.


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